El Rincon del Dr. KakaWate

I have been asked a couple of times regarding advice on Social Networks and the feedback has been positive. Therefore I thought making a post would be the next step to share  these recs in an easier way. Hope it helps.

It was not long ago that most people, including doctors thought Social Media was a waste of time. As a medical professional I have found it a tremendous tool which proved to be useful for many things
1) Education
2) Engagement
3) Priceless Networking
4) Making conferences more interactive and interesting
5) Spreading advice and more

As a doctor who has been using Social Media for a while, I will give some advice that I consider extremely important for any medical professional. This advice will help you jump start your social media presence
1) NEVER post anything in any social network that you would not say in front of 1 MILLION people. (Many of us used FB or other platforms before we knew better so it is reasonable to delete your digital footprint in some of these platforms. Get a fresh start.)
2) Use different social media to target different audiences  Take advantage of this. Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, G+, and one of my favorites, Reddit (/r/Science and /r/Futurology are great!). I will stay away from mentioning Doctor designed Social Networks since I rarely use them anymore.
3) Learn how to use #Hashtags in a proper manner, engage with the internet (Priceless advice given to me by (@Lucienengelen). In addition when you choose your twitter handle, I would suggest for you to use your name if you want people to find you quickly and interact with you. If not, then create a nickname that is simple and easy to remember.
4) Follow healthcare Power Twitters and learn from them even if they are not from your specialty. Trust me, you will learn a lot.
– @Lucienengelen – Lucien Engelen
– @ZGJR – Rafael Grossman
– @Berci – Berthalan Mesko
– @Daniel_Kraft – Daniel Kraft
– @Johnnosta – Johnnosta
– @Doctor_V – Bryan Vartabedian
– @Hjluks – Howard Luks
– @Seattlemamadoc – Wendy Sue Swanson
– @Epatientdave – Dave deBronkart
– @doctorwes – Westby Fisher
– @erictopol – Eric Topol
– @Christianassad – Christian Assad 

5) Never trust Direct Messages in twitter. I don’t care how safe you think they are, always assume this could end up seen by millions.

Follow these 5 steps and you will feel more comfortable. (If you do not so already)

Another tremendous reason why the use of Social Media is important among healthcare providers is that is a tool, that in a way, prepares Physicians, Nurses, PAs, you name it, for Telemedicine. Yes, you heard me.

Once your are done with this. Start exploring platforms like Tweetdeck and Hootsuite. This is what a Power Twitter is about. You will feel like you have cloned yourself and you are in multiple places at once!

Got questions? You know where to find me! Cheers!